The Surfer
Bush to prove he's a cricket match person
After telling a press conference that he’s a cricket person, George Bush will get the chance to prove what he knows about the game when he is taken to a match as part of his visit to Pakistan, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
After telling a press conference that he’s a cricket person, George Bush will get the chance to prove what he knows about the game when he is taken to a match as part of his visit to Pakistan, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Let’s hope he fares better with his knowledge of the game than his fellow American, the model Caprice. Years before she grabbed KP’s arm and the limelight as she jumped on to the Ashes bandwagon, Caprice was asked to help promote the 1999 World Cup in England. Professing her love for the game, she challenged reporters to ask her any question they liked about cricket. “OK. What’s LBW stand for?” asked one. “Ask me another,” she said, er, stumped. (sorry)
Full postAsk Speed
ICC big cheese Malcolm Speed has engaged in a Q&A session with readers of the UK's Guardian newspaper
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
ICC big cheese Malcolm Speed has engaged in a Q&A session with readers of the UK's Guardian newspaper. Among other things, Speed talks about Zimbabwe, his favourite innings (Garry Sobers's 254 at the MCG in 1971-72) and Twenty20 cricket:
Fifty-over one-day international cricket is a highly popular format with players, fans, broadcasters and sponsors around the world. Twenty20 cricket certainly has a role to play. We are in the process of determining exactly what that will be but we think it will complement 50-over cricket rather than replace it.
The need for Australian speed. Quickly
Alex Brown reports in The Age about Australia’s desperate search for fast bowlers ahead of the South Africa Test tour.
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Alex Brown reports in The Age about Australia’s desperate search for fast bowlers ahead of the South Africa Test tour.
Australia’s four selectors will cast their net across two continents and five stadiums this week as they attempt to settle on a 14-man Test squad, which promises to be the most contentious in recent years ... Chief among their priorities is to identify a competitive pace attack in the absence of Glenn McGrath, and whether Stuart MacGill should play as back-up to Shane Warne.
In the same paper Martin Blake writes about the assignment facing Brad Hodge.
Brad Hodge is comfortable, or as comfortable as you can be when you're in the Australian Test team and you have the likes of Michael Clarke breathing down your neck. As his close confidante Michael Sholly says: "You average 50 in the Australian side and you're still under pressure."
The joy of an Indian maidan
In the Daily Telegraph , Mihir Bose writes about the importance of the maidan in Indian cricket:
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
In the Daily Telegraph, Mihir Bose writes about the importance of the maidan in Indian cricket:
If English cricket is essentially rural, Indian cricket is urban. Its roots lie in the lanes of India's teaming cities and on the broad patches of green, called the maidans, that occasionally break up the monotony of concrete.
Chappell opens up on the Ganguly issue
In a wide-ranging chat to Mike Selvey, Greg Chappell opens up on the Sourav Ganguly issue:
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
In a wide-ranging chat to Mike Selvey, Greg Chappell opens up on the Sourav Ganguly issue:
... in essence I told Sourav that if he wanted to save his career he should consider giving up the captaincy. He was just hanging in there ... It was in his own interest to give himself mind space to work on his batting so that it could be resurrected. He was not prepared to do that. What I didn't realise at that stage was how utterly important to his life and finances being captain was.
The Googly - a new blog
A new cricket blog has been launched today by the weblog publishing company Shiny Media and our very own Will Luke's editing it
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
A new cricket blog has been launched today by the weblog publishing company Shiny Media and our very own Will Luke's editing it. It’s called The Googly. As you’d expect with a name like that, it's an irreverent look at cricket and its nuances, by professional writers - including Gideon Haigh.
Full postNot quite a Don deal
A photograph claiming to be of Don Bradman will go to auction next week
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
A photograph claiming to be of Don Bradman will go to auction next week. However, the Sydney Morning Herald reports there is doubt over whether the lot is authentic.
The auctioneer's head of sporting memorabilia, Tom Thompson, is emphatic the verandah shot is the young Don, wearing his NSW cricket gear … But Richard Mulvaney, the director of the Bradman Museum, begged to differ.
Is this the end for McGrath?
Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald Glenn McGrath’s withdrawal from the South Africa tour means Australia’s selectors may soon be pondering a move that until recently has been considered cricketing high treason .
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Alex Brown writes in the Sydney Morning Herald Glenn McGrath’s withdrawal from the South Africa tour means Australia’s selectors may soon be pondering a move that until recently has been considered cricketing high treason.
Now that McGrath has ruled himself out of the Test portion of the South African tour and the series in Bangladesh, Australia's most prolific paceman has no opportunity to play Tests before the Ashes series. Though McGrath is eager to keep playing, the fact remains that by the Ashes he will be approaching the age of 37 and will have no Test-match fitness under his belt. And that will be of major concern to Trevor Hohns's panel.
Matthew Hayden usually stands at first slip to Shane Warne, but in Melbourne from Thursday he will be on opposite sides in the Queensland-Victoria Pura Cup match. He tells The Courier-Mail’s Robert Craddock he is wary of "information overload".
Full postA baseball coach for Pakistan?
It’s worked for other teams, it could work for Pakistan – they are considering employing a baseball coach to help with throwing techniques
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
It’s worked for other teams, it could work for Pakistan – they are considering employing a baseball coach to help with throwing techniques. They have their sights set on Mike Young, who is currently working with the New Zealand team on a short-term basis. Read what the Khaleej Times has to say on the matter here.
Full post